‘“We are all aware of the odds against us,” Regier said inside the First Niagara Center before the team left on a five-game road trip. “But I think with Cody coming in he will give us a good boost on the offensive size. We certainly lose Gaus’ competitiveness, his size and thickness and his ability to play against the other teams’ top lines.”’

‘“A lot of guys take the test, they feel normal,” McCormick said inside the First Niagara Center. “They’re symptom-free. Maybe they don’t ace the concussion test and it takes a couple tries. Hopefully, that’s not my case and I can get through this test.”’

‘“Long term, it’ll turn out to be a good day,” Regier said. “When we evaluated our team, we knew that we had to get better. And to get better, if it meant taking a minor step back, then we were prepared to do it.”’

‘“He was born and raised with the Buffalo Sabres,” Regier said. “But when we looked at it, we thought long and hard about whether or not to trade him, and if so, under what conditions to trade him. And we set the standard high, and the standard was we had to be able to acquire a first-round pick and if we couldn’t acquire a first-round pick in that process, then we were not going to trade him.”’

‘Hodgson, the 10th overall pick in the 2008 NHL Entry Draft, has registered 16 goals and 17 assists in 63 games this season. Kassian, the 13th player taken in 2009, appeared in 27 games for Buffalo this year, collecting three goals and seven points.’

‘The 6-foot-4, 229-pound Gaustad has been credited with 98 hits, 40 blocked shots and 70 penalty minutes in 56 games this season. He has also been an offensive threat, scoring seven goals and posting 17 points.’

‘So are the Sabres a better team today than they were yesterday? I think they are. They get a huge drop off in faceoffs as Hodgson doesn’t even win 45% of his draws. Gaustad has been in the NHL’s top three the past two seasons. You have a guy that is likely to be one of your top two centers for many years to come for a guy who for the last month has been one of the best shutdown and penalty killing forwards around. The problem is where has that been the last two years. He chipped in some offense lately, but he’s never scored in the playoffs and has come up very small. He’s also been part of this stale core group for the Sabres that has proven for four years it’ll crumble when times get tough. Tim Connolly and now Gaustad have been removed from that group and replaced by Hodgson and Leino.’

‘But you have to give him this one. Then we’ll take another look a year from now, but the bottom line is, Regier is going to be around at least that long no matter what anybody outside the organization thinks.’

‘The move made sense in the long term given Hodgson, picked 10th in the 2008 Entry Draft, was stuck behind Henrik Sedin and Ryan Kesler on the Canucks’ depth chart. But in the short term it seems more about Hodgson not being well-suited to play a shutdown role as a third line center. As soon as Pahlsson was added earlier in the day — for prospect defender Taylor Ellington and two fourth-round draft picks in 2012 — there were questions about Hodgson’s future.’

‘”The goal was when we evaluated our team, we knew that we had to get better and get better in the event if it meant taking a minor step back, then we were prepared to do it,” Regier said. “It still allows us a run at the playoffs — we are all aware of the odds against us — but I think with Cody coming in, he will give us a good boost in the offensive side. We certainly lose Gaus’ competitiveness, his size and thickness and his ability to play against the other team’s top line, but we really felt going forward, with his pending unrestricted free agency, we needed to address the center position, the offense and the opportunity to get a young man like Cody.”‘

‘Buffalo Sabres General Manager Darcy Regier today announced that the Sabres have acquired center Cody Hodgson and defenseman Alexander Sulzer from the Vancouver Canucks in exchange for forward Zack Kassian and defenseman Marc-Andre Gragnani.’